Ad Mortem

Ad Mortem

"Ad Mortem: Un'avventura proprio" is an original show about death, life, time, and love. Created by the 2012 summer Artmonks-in-Residence, the show's conception began with the question, "How do I live when I know that I'm going to die?" From this sincere, urgent, and hopeful query grows a 70-minute theatrical journey that mixes contemporary dance, shadow play, and a full-length original score (including the innovative new technology of live looping). The title is a mix of Latin and Italian (roughly translating to "Towards Death: A Real Adventure!") and captures the excitement and complexity of death, loss, and transitions of all size and scale. Drawing inspiration from Roman mythology and famous Italian poems, Ad Mortem gives life to an original world of complex thought and profound emotion that resonates with audiences of diverse ages and cultures.

Ad Mortem premiered at Calici Sotto Le Stelle, with additional performances at the La MaMa Spoleto Open Fringe festival, in summer 2012. Each performance was designed to be site-specific and unique for each location.

In Labro, the work premiered under the alternative title: L'Eterno Smascherato (The Eternal Unmasked).

"Why do we sacrifice so much energy to our art? Not in order to teach others, but to learn with them what our existence, our organism, our personal and unrepeatable experience have to give us...in short, to fill the emptiness in us: to fulfill ourselves...Art is a ripening, an evolution, an uplifting which enables us to emerge from darkness into a blaze of light." -Jerzy Grotowski